


Etched Into Your Skin

by jeno__candy



Series: Doodles [2]
Category: DC Animated Universe, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, but he's stupid when it comes to love and soulmates, damian wants to die from embarrassment, lol damian's obviously falling for you, shy damian, the batfam discovers his soulmate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-06-30 22:37:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15761142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeno__candy/pseuds/jeno__candy
Summary: Soulmates were a foolish notion—that much Y/N L/N and Damian Wayne could agree on.But Damian’s soulmate was truly one of a kind if she was able to make him accidentally laugh out loud during dinner.





	Etched Into Your Skin

**Author's Note:**

> Soulmate AU where what you write on your skin appears on your soulmate's in the same spot. The words and drawings will slowly fade after a while.  
> [Mostly about Damian—the next part will focus more on Y/N]

Am I sick? 

* * *

Damian woke up feeling strangely at peace and very relaxed, wanting nothing more than to bury himself into the sheets and under the oh-so-warm blanket. He glanced to the red numbers on his clock and rolled over, taking in his room's unusually interesting appearance. His eyes raked over the big window, squinting as sunlight peaked through the maroon red curtains. Yawning, Damian sat up and stretched, rubbing at the sleep in his eyes as he glanced back at his nightstand. 

**9:02 AM**

He slept past his usual time—his weekends started promptly at 7:45 AM, and he had never woken up a minute later. Yes, he's waken up earlier, and on some God forsaken nights filled with trouble in the streets of Gotham, he was lucky to get any sleep at all. But never in his life as Robin had he woken up late, especially not  **this** late. Groaning, he sank down into his bed and turned over, staring at the door that lead to his bathroom. 

Of course, he blamed this on his soulmate.

Who in their right mind would be awake at four in the morning? He’d just arrived back from patrol and was looking forward to sleeping in just the tiniest bit as it was Saturday the next day. 

But the tingling in his palm interrupted his shower that night. 

-

When he dried himself off and got changed, he glanced down at his palm in confusion.

**Why are you awake?**

Damian sat up against his pillows with his legs under the covers as he waited for their response.

_I was watching a superhero film :D_

**What are you? A twelve year old boy? It’s past four in the morning!**

They were so strange, and yet, he yearned to know more about them.

_I’ll have you know that I’m a sixteen year old girl at Gotham Academy!_

His heart leapt up into his throat as he sat up alarmed and alert. His soulmate went to his school? Just how lucky was he? Or was this for the worse? 

“I won’t accept it if she turns out to be one of my mindless fans,” he said, sighing in exhaustion. If his nightly activities weren’t exhausting the hell out of him, then it was the daily annoyance of having to deal with girls crowding around him, trying to talk to him, or trying to approach him. Hell, even their stares bothered him. 

_And how am I supposed to know you aren’t some weirdo living in their mom’s basement?_

”Unbelievable,” he muttered, rolling his eyes. 

He scribbled his own snappy answer.

**Would you believe me if I said I’m a sixteen year old boy at Gotham Academy?**

Damian waited rather impatiently for her response, but time passed and he didn’t seem to be receiving one anytime soon.

”Tch. They’re asleep.” 

-

Feeling dazed and a little bit groggy, Damian hulled himself out of his bed and hastily threw the covers over his pillows. Normally, he’d put more care into making his bed look neat, but he couldn’t be bothered to do it today. 

He trudged to the bathroom, yawning and rubbing at his eyes. 

When he was finally changed, he ran his fingers through his damp hair to make himself look presentable. Damian stole a look at his digital clock and sighed. 

**9:48 AM**

The youngest groaned and yawned again, muttering about how that would be the first and last time he stayed up late to talk to a soulmate who would fall asleep at the start of the conversation. Boy, was Damian wrong about that. 

The smell of breakfast wafted through the air, and for once, Damian was thankful for the fact that his brothers weren’t early risers like he was. Truth be told, he didn’t like eating by himself at home, but he didn’t want to wake his brothers up just to eat with them. They would never let him live that down. 

“Hey! We were wondering when you’d wake up,” Dick exclaimed, greeting Damian with a teasing grin. 

“Good morning, Master Damian,” Alfred added, setting a plate of waffles in front of Damian as he sat down. Damian nodded in response and thanked him, beginning to eat.

”What’s with the late start?” Jason asked, raising an eyebrow.

Tim chimed in through a mouthful of waffles, “Yeah. You’re always awake before us.” 

Jason and Tim narrowed their eyes suspiciously at their youngest sibling, wondering if today would be the day the world would end. 

Damian rolled his eyes, “I was tired.” 

“Bullshit,” Jason retorted, sending him a look.

”Language please, Master Jason!” Alfred chided, directing a stern expression at him. Jason chuckled sheepishly and nodded, apologizing to the older man. 

Dick pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, “Let’s just let Damian off the hook, alright? He got back at like four in the morning, so it makes sense that he would be tired.” 

Jason and Tim grunted their replies as they continued to enjoy Saturday morning’s breakfast. Damian mentally thanked Dick for his quick intervention, not knowing what he would do if his brothers continued their line on inquiry. What was he supposed to say? 

Oh, my soulmate was awake at four in the damn morning watching superhero movies?

Fat chance they would even believe that he had a soulmate. 

-

Breakfast ended without another problem, and if it weren’t for Dick, the brothers would have gone their separate ways to spend their weekend by themselves. Here they all were, standing around in the Batcave as Dick cheerfully explained why he wanted everybody together.

”Let’s hang out for once!”

”Excuse me?” Jason snorted, crossing his arms and shifting his weight to one leg as he raised an eyebrow at Dick pointedly. 

Damian sighed, “You want us to...Hang out?” While the figure of speech wasn’t unfamiliar to him, he still didn’t like where this was going. He knew what “hanging out” meant, and he didn’t want to do that today—especially not when he was tired and wanted nothing more than to relax by himself or train to get rid of his sleepy state. 

Dick grinned in response and gestured for his younger brothers to follow him. They trudged behind him as he lead them out of the Batcave and out back. 

Tim put his hands on his hips, “What’re we doing here, Dick? I want to play my new video game.” 

A snort of amusement came from Jason, and Damian scoffed in response at Tim’s complaint. However, Dick paid no mind to their reactions and instead focused on what seemed to be behind them. 

“Ah, Alfred! Perfect!”

The other three turned to see Alfred holding a rather large box, and Dick walked over to the butler and took it from him, grinning as he thanked him. 

“Please be careful, Master Dick,” he stated. “Exercise caution so that none of you get hurt, and do try not to break anything. Master Bruce would not be pleased.” 

Dick laughed and nodded, “And that’s why we’re doing this outside!” He gestured to the vast expanse of grass next to the fence protecting the garden. There were rows of trees and other decorative statues and such in the area, and the hedges made great hiding spots. Alfred left to tend to other business, and left Dick with the cardboard box. 

“Just tell us what we’re here for, man!” Jason exclaimed, uncrossing his arms and throwing them up in exasperation. 

The oldest chuckled and put the box down, pulling something out and turning around. Needless to say, all three brothers gaped at the sight. 

Dick grinned and cocked his gun, “We are going to have a water fight.” 

-

“Now, this is more like it!” Jason grinned, coolly adjusting the black sunglasses that covered his eyes. He rested the big squirt gun on his shoulder and smirked. This was an elaborately planned water gun fight indeed. 

“Where did you even find these?” Tim asked, inspecting his own weapon of choice. 

Damian said nothing, but he was clearly excited. He rummaged through the box and snatched his own weapons, putting on the sash and sheathing his gun in place behind him. 

“Last one standing wins,” Dick announced. “You’re out when all three targets on your body are soaked. If you run out of water in your gun, you can choose to refill it by the hose where you are left vulnerable to attack, or get your hands on one of the many hidden buckets of water balloons in the area.”

The other three examined the three targets stuck in their bodies.

”Now, let’s start!” 

-

Soaked with water, Damian hid behind a hedge and poked his head out, examining his surroundings to see if any of his brothers were nearby. There was a loud yelp, and Damian snorted at the sound of Jason’s cry of indignation. He recognized Tim’s rather loud battle cry, and he gathered that those two were locked in combat at the moment, which meant Dick was out there and could get him at any moment. 

All of a sudden, Damian jumped back, holding his half full gun as he aimed it at Dick’s face. 

Another loud cry filled the air, followed by a triumphant shout of joy. 

Dick smirked, “Looks like Jay’s out.”

”That’s not fucking fair!” 

“Yes, it is!” 

Damian sighed and rolled his eyes, “Looks like it.”

-

Lots of screaming and running around later, the last two stood facing each other in a fierce stand off. Damian managed to refill his gun while Dick stumbled upon Tim and shot at his second target, leaving Tim with only one target left. Unfortunately for Dick, he also only had one left. Jason had shot one of his and Damian got one during their own stalemate by the hedges. Dick and Jason sat off to the side, panting, soaking wet, and clearly excited to see what was about to go down between their youngest brothers.

”Surrender and I’ll go easy on ya,” Tim stated, pointing his half empty gun at Damian’s target. He had Damian in a headlock and was holding the gun to his second last target, finger on the trigger as he threatened to pull it. 

Damian scoffed, “In your dreams, Drake.” With that, Damian soaked the target on Tim’s side with a water balloon he’d collected and shoved in his pouch. It was a bit of a miracle that it stayed intact. 

“What—“ Tim cut himself off as he looked down to see the remnants of a pink water balloon on his clothing. Loud, whooping laughter filled the air as Dick fell backwards and clutched his stomach. Jason screeched at the look of disbelief on Tim’s face, repeating Tim’s threat in a mocking voice as Tim whined about the unfairness of it all. Damian stifled his laughter, but let a rare smile of enjoyment through as they all basked in the aftermath of the water fight. 

Two loud smacks filled the air, and Damian cried out, jumping at the coldness of the water now dripping down his leftover targets. In shock, he looked to his brothers, glaring at them.

”Which one of you parasites did that?! I won!” He exclaimed, childishly crossing his arms and sticking his tongue out at them. 

“Wasn’t us,” Tim replied, holding his hands up in defence. 

“It was me,” a deep voice interrupted. The boys turned to see Bruce standing there with his arms crossed and an amused smirk on his face. They erupted into cries of disbelief and for Damian, a cry of betrayal. 

-

Groaning, Damian stretched and sat down on his bed, the towel around his neck feeling a little damp. He’d previously used it to dry his hair off. As if today couldn’t get anymore hectic, his left arm began to tingle again. 

Sighing, although not in exasperation or annoyance, he walked over to his desk and took a seat, looking down to see what his soulmate had written. 

_Hey, who’s your favourite vigilante?_

**Why would you assume I even have one?**

_Fine. Which one do you like the most in Gotham?_

**Robin, obviously. And you?**

This was a little bit pointless, but nonetheless, he was very curious as to which hero his soulmate liked the most. And if it wasn’t him, he was going to throw a fit.

_Nightwing_

Are you kidding me? He thought, nostrils flaring at the unknown hit to his pride from his soulmate. This was a stupid thing to get offended over, but he couldn’t help but feel hurt that his soulmate chose one of his older brothers over him. It’s fine, he thought. It’s not like they know he’s Robin. 

-

At dinner, Damian was as quiet as ever, ignoring the conversations happening around him as he mindlessly ate his delicious food. 

Although, he wouldn’t say he was mindless. He was in very deep thought. 

Just what type of person was his soulmate? What did she look like? Was she tall or short? What was their favourite colour?

He admitted that he felt a little silly, but excited about having a soulmate of his own. More so when he found out that they went to his school. He wondered how many times he might have walked past her in the hallways or seen her briefly as he walked to and from different parts of the campus. Would he be lucky enough to meet them?

As dreadful as it sounded to have a soulmate who went to his school, he was anxiously awaiting the day that they could meet. While he would rather not have one of his obsessive fans as his soulmate, or anyone he found irritating, he seemed to realize something as he chewed on the vegetables he’d shoved in his mouth. 

His soulmate was a bit annoying. They were strange, and had strange habits. Their sleep schedule mirrored Tim’s, and she seemed to have Dick’s teasing, yet cheery attitude. And lastly, she seemed to have a vulgar, more crude side to her that reminded him vaguely of Jason. Was his soulmate...A mixture of all of his older brothers combined? The colour drained from his face just slightly. 

 

“Damian? Damian? We’re talking to you here,” Tim said, waving a hand in front of his brother’s face. Everyone was just about finished eating, and so was he. 

Snapping out of his trance, Damian looked up at his family with a raised eyebrow. 

“What is it?”

”How’s school going?” Jason asked, sending him a pointed look. As much as he loved to mess around with Damian, it wasn’t a secret that he cared a lot for the kid. 

Damian rolled his eyes, “Fine. Everyone is annoying as usual.” 

For a while, nobody said anything, and Damian was beginning to wonder what was wrong—if anything was wrong. Another awkward silence later, Bruce finally spoke up. 

“Damian, have you realized that there’s been drawings appearing on your left arm throughout dinner?” 

In shock, and suddenly filled with panic, Damian’s eyes widened as he looked down to see the scribbles that he’d come to adore—not that he’d ever say that out loud. Protectively, and rather embarrassed, Damian hid his arm behind him and gulped, racking his brain for a way out of this situation. 

Dick was the first to break the tension, slapping the table and guffawing as he said, “Y-You got your soulmate marks!” 

“Well, whaddya know,” Jason added, crossing his arms and sending his brother a rare, but genuine smile.

”The demon spawn **does** have a soulmate!” Tim exclaimed, grinning. Damian turned to the right and glared at his brother, turning pink at all the attention. Tim yelped, and Damian could only guess that one of his other brothers had kicked him from where they sat under the table. Judging from Tim’s glare, it was Jason. 

 

“C-Can I leave now?” Damian asked, feeling timid under everyone’s stares. “I’m uncomfortable...”

Dick gaped in joy, “Did you just share your feelings?!”

Damian blushed harder and covered his face with his hands, trying not to scream at the unwanted attention and the fuss his family was making.

”Do you know who they are?” Bruce asked, interested in the matter as well. Shyly, Damian shook his head and gulped, turning his head to the side to avoid everybody’s stares of interest.

”She goes to my school,” he muttered. Nobody asked another question for another while, and Damian began to wonder what the problem was now.

”What?” He snapped, exasperatedly. 

Tim pointed to his arm where words began appearing in place of the fading doodles. 

“What does it say?” Jason asked, rather impatient, but the excitement on his face showed how happy he was for their youngest. 

_Hey, what’d you end up doing today?_

Dick read it out loud and gasped, “Woah, do you guys talk regularly?! How long has this been going on? Q-Quick, Alfred! We need a pen!”

”Master Dick, I understand this is a momentous occasion, but please calm down,” Alfred cut in, handing Damian a pen. “I am happy for Master Damian as well.”

Damian stared at the pen dumbly, at a loss for words at the suddenness of the one situation he wanted to avoid. 

**You have the worst timing ever. My family caught the drawings all over my arm during dinner.**

_Oops! Sorry. Will you ever forgive me, your highness? _

**I suppose I have no choice, since you’re my soulmate.**

_Of course! Besides, my family found out recently too. They found out when we were talking last night._

Damian made the mistake of letting out a quiet chuckle, and he froze when it happened. 

“Did you just laugh?” Tim questioned, astonishment written all over his face. “Soulmates are an amazing thing.”

The youngest ignored the looks of disbelief from his family as he hesitantly stood up, holding the pen in his hand as he pushed his chair in. 

“May I be excused?” 

Bruce nodded, not trusting himself to speak, and they all watched as Damian muttered a ‘thank you’ and hurried to his room. 

“I think I’m going to faint,” Jason gasped, dramatically putting a hand to his forehead as Dick shook with excitement, laughter threatening to escape.

Tim ran his hands through his hair and stood up, shaking his head, “I need some coffee.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t own the characters (they belong to DC Comics) but the plot and storyline is mine! Copyright is not intended. This is for entertainment purposes only! Enjoy! :)


End file.
